Bleeder for air headers



July 5, 1932.

L. BUEHLER. JR., ET AL BLEEDER FOR AIR HEADERS Filed Dec. 9, 192

Jwuzwkow a, 3 Leon Buehle r, Jr

0mm JRomberg Patented July 5, 1932 UNITED STATES LEON BUEHLER, an, AND001mm) J. Romania: 01? 'wmmsom, PEmIs LvAN A, ASSIGNGRS r FRIGK COMPANY,or WAYnEs oRQ, rnunsvnvnnm, n cements:-

TION OF PENNSYLVANIA BLEEDEB nos Am HEADERS Application filed December9, 31326. Serial-No; 153,638.

Our said invention relates to bleeders for air headers and it is anobject of the invention to provide means for keeping the tem perature inan air header for supplying an" used for agitating the water in thefreezing cans of an ice making machine frombeing reduced sufficiently tofreeze. In feed ing air, for agitating, into the cans contaming the rawwater to be frozen there is usually a main header which supplies lateralor transversely disposed headers located between rows of cans ordirectly above the same and after the device has been in operation forsome time the temperature is reduced to such an extent that the headersreadily freeze and prevent the water from being agitated, thus affectingthe efiicient functioning of the device. In carrying out our inventionwe provide means for preventing the temperature from being reducedsufiicient to cause the pipes to freeze by providing a bleeder passageor discharge opening at a point remote to the inlet end of the header sothat a comparatively warm stream of air passes through the header at alltimes, all as will be hereinafter more particularly described andclaimed.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, which is made a part hereof andon which similar reference characters indicate similar parts,

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a plurality of ice cans illustrating theapplication of our invention,

Figure 2, a detail,

Figure 3, a different arrangement of air header,

Figure 4, a section on line 4-4 of Figure 3, and

Figure 5, another form of air header.

In the drawing reference character 10 indicates a can grid or basket inwhich is mounted a plurality of ice cans 11 for containing raw Water tobe frozen. Along the can grid 45 10 is disposed an air lateral or header12 having means at one end for connection with a main air header (notshown) and having tubes 13 arranged for supplying air to the cans, oneof such tubes being supported by a bracket 14 over each can forsupplying air ,to that particular can. j-theouter end of the air headeror air lateral 12 is provided a bleeder15 whichmay be of anyidesiredfform capableof being adjusted for varying the passage of airtherethrough; As shown in Figure 2 fiche-air -bl-.eeder comprises aninner disk 16 having an opening 17 therein and an outer disk '18 havingan opening 19 therein. Theu-pp-er disk is provided with a sleeve adaptedto fitsnugly on theend of the air header or pipe .12. l/Vith thisconstruction by varying the size of the opening throughzthe disks 16 and.18 the pressure of air within the air header or :air lateral may becontrolled, such bleeding action causing thetemperature to be keptsufiicientlyshi-gh,

to. prevent freezing of the pipes. a

In lieu of air being fed into the header or lateral 12 :at one, end, asabove described, and thebleed ing operation occurring at the oppositeend air may be f-ed into both ends of an air-header. or air lateral andthe bleeding.

maytake ,place about the center of the header,

asshown :in Figure 3. If desired astill ferent' arrangement maybe usedwhichfim volves a feeding in of all theflair atithe centier of theheader or .airl ateral and bleeding the, same at each end, as shown inFigure 5 If the structurefof Figure .3 is used the bleeder, as shown in"Figure 4,.may consist of .a sleeve mounted on the air lateral or header10" or which has a perforation con responding to the perforation in (thesleeve and by rotating said sleeve the perfoiiations may{bejbroughtfinto alinern'ent. The air laterals or headers are locatedrun: derthe tanklidsand are'therefore exposedto a cold temperature and:theair within them is thereby chilled by both radiation and conduction.At the end of the laterals the velocity of the air becomes very lowinasmuch as each air stream is feeding fewer and fewer cans as itapproaches the end of the header. By allowing some air to blow off orescape from the end of the lateral at a point remote from the inlet theair which would become dead is kept in motion. In other words there isnot a pocket of still or dead air from V which avery small amount is fedto the can;

or dead in the end of the lateral it rapidly becomes very coldconsequently by our invention we can get air several degrees warmer atthe last can if we allow some air to leak out at the end of the lateral.

Our invention is quite simple, however, by controlling the temperatureof the air withinthe header the device may be caused to moresatisfactorily and efliciently perform the function for which it isdesired and a better freeze obtained.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes maybe made in our device without departing from the spirit of the inventionand therefore we do not limit ourselves to what is shown in the drawingand described in the specification but only as indicated in the appendedclaims.

Having thus fully'described our said invention, what we claim as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. Ice making apparatus comprising a can grid, a plurality of cans insaid grid, an air header mounted above and extending longitudinally ofsaid grid, means for supplying air to each end of said header, an airbleed on and intermediate the ends of said header for allowing the slowescape of air from the header, and air laterals extending from saidheader to said cans, said laterals being attached to the header betweenthe air supplying means and the said air bleed, substantially as setforth.

2. Ice making apparatus comprising a support for ice cans, a pluralityof cans in said support, an air header mounted above said support andextending across the tops of said cans, means for supplying air to eachend of said header, a perforation in said header intermediate its endsfor allowing the slow escape of air from the header, a perforated sleeveabout said header adapted to control the escape of air from the header,and air laterals from said header extending to said cans, said lateralsbeing placed between the air supplying means and the said sleeve,substantially as set forth.

In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands at \Vaynesboro,Pennsylvania, this first day of December, A. D. nineteen hundred andtwenty-six.

' LEON BUEHLER, JR.

0. J. ROMBERG.

